WVRHEP Finance Committee
Attendees: Voting Members—David Hughes, Administrator,
Cabin Creek Health Center; Chuck Conner,
Site Coordinator, Winding Roads Consortium; Steve Thomas, Site Coordinator, Mountain Health Consortium, Jim Welshonce, Community Member,
Mountain Health Consortium; Bill Shires,
School Committee Representative, WVSOM.
Non-Voting Attendees—Margaret Novacich, Chair; Elizabeth Richmond, Site Coordinator, Country Roads Consortium; Kelly Blake, Site Coordinator, Mountain Health Consortium; Jay Prager, Administrator, Cameron Community Health Center; Jim Schneider, Assoc. VP for Finance, Marshall University; Anna Reno, Site Coordinator, Little Kanawha Consortium; Penny Asbury, Site Coordinator, Southern Counties Consortium; Hilda R. Heady, Executive Director, WVRHEP; Jodie Jackson, Director of Research, WVRHEP; Malinda Turner, Site Coordinator, Eastern WVRHEC.
Margaret called the committee’s attention to the pink sheet showing the new condensed line items for the Operating budget. The long list from the March meeting has been decreased to 6 items. Margaret was unable to get the new line items to the sites before the budgeting process took place, so she condensed each budget request as it was received. The new condensed budgets will be sent to each site for their files.
The tan sheets show the budgets for each site, with a white sheet showing the combined budgets for all sites. Southern Counties was unable to submit their budget in time to be included in the meeting due to meetings with Dr. Weston, so their budget will be sent under separate cover to the Finance Committee.
The green sheet shows the carryover balance for each consortium and acknowledges receipt of a spending plan from each site having carryover. The final yellow sheet in the packet is a salary report for all site coordinators and support. Community boards to determine salary levels can use this report.
A motion was made by Chuck Conner and seconded by David Hughes to accept the budget packet as presented with corrections to the educational levels of the site coordinators as noted by Steve Thomas. Motion carried.
Special project requests were presented to the committee for the CARDIAC project sponsored by Dr. Wm. Neal at WVU. There are a total of 13 requests for $3,000 each totaling $39,000 with more requests expected after the Site Coordinators meeting on May 16th. The committee discussed possible centralization of this project and other ways to reduce costs. Because this project will inevitably reach all 55 counties in some manner, there is no way the RHEP Special Projects funds can be expected to continue to absorb the costs. A motion was put forth by Bill Shires to have Hilda meet with Dr. Neal to discuss the project and cost saving measures for the sites. Chuck Conner made the second. The motion carried by voice vote.
Western Counties made a request for $50,000 to support the Marshall University Rural Residency Program. After discussion, it was determined that this request was not appropriate for the RHEP Special Projects funding and would not be considered. Chuck Conner presented the motion to reject this request and Steve Thomas seconded it. Motion carried by voice vote.
Rivers & Bridges Consortium requested $6,650 for computer equipment. Rivers & Bridges has no carryover to use for this type of purchase. Jacquelynn will be directed to work with a member of the LRC committee to ensure continuity. David Hughes presented the motion to accept the request and Chuck Conner seconded. The motion carried.
The RHEP Evaluation Committee presented a request of $30,029for funding assistance to add to funds from the Southern Rural Access Grant to complete a comprehensive research evaluation of the RHEP program. Jodie Jackson and Kelly Blake presented the request from the committee. This project will provide electronic support and tie in all the schools. Medical students will be the only discipline evaluated in the beginning, as that is the majority of student numbers and will be the most challenging to tackle. Trisha Petitte will continue working on the project until she leaves to return to school. Her work will be folded into the project. Jim Welshonce presented the motion to accept the request and David Hughes seconded. The motion passed by voice vote.
Margaret updated the committee on the progress of the RHEP Site Reviews. The purchase order has been approved by the State Auditor and we will be hearing from Doak, Cuppett and Poling soon on the getting the process started.
The committee then reviewed the payment distributions for
the site. Payments are disbursed on July
31, October 31, January 31, April 30 and June 30. Jim Schneider presented the committee with
the history of why this schedule was set-up.
It is necessary due to the revenue receipts to the state,
which fund the budget. The
current schedule is causing problems with cash flow for some consortia and they
have requested that another method be considered. Jim stated that Dr. Weston could discuss this
schedule with
Dr. Weston sent a resolution for consideration by the RHEP Finance Committee to establish a sub-committee to work on the reallocation model for the next fiscal year funding. The resolution was presented as a motion by Chuck Conner and seconded by Steve Thomas. The Motion passed by voice vote. Members of the current Finance committee stated their interest in serving on the sub-committee. Hilda will ask for volunteers at the Advisory Panel meeting and then the sub-committee will be formed based on the membership proposed in the resolution.
The meeting was adjourned at